


Another Cold Swim

by RoseByAnyOtherName (badxwolfxrising)



Series: Things That Could've Been [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 16:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3495587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badxwolfxrising/pseuds/RoseByAnyOtherName
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor stumbles on Jack and Rose having a private moment, and it fills him with a rage he hasn't felt since the Time War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Cold Swim

The Doctor was dressed in bathing trunks, heading to his favorite swimming/meditation spot . While the TARDIS had a lovely heated pool, jacuzzi, and sauna, he had a different spot he preferred to swim, in a room that looked like an endless ocean. He could swim for hours and never go anywhere, just think, and think, and think. Think about the Daleks, the Time War, the Moment… And since no one else but him knew where his watery meditation spot was, it was a safe place for him to scream to the old and the dead and the gone, in fury, and rage, and guilt. He could lose his mind here, and Rose and Jack would never have any idea about it.

Rose and Jack, whose whispers and giggles were coming from one of the entertainment lounges. An ugly stab of jealousy ripped at him, but he shoved it back down inside to the same dark spot where he kept all the rest of his hurt and rage. Rose was a young thing, a vibrant thing. It was no wonder other people wanted to be close to her, to be her friend. And she deserved to have friends. He had no illusions about how closed off and emotionally inaccessible he could be at times, but whenever he saw Rose and Captain Jack together and how familiar they had become with one another, it made his blood simmer.

The two of them were unaware of him now as he watched them from the doorway. They were lounging on the couch together, with Jack resting against the left side of it and Rose leaning against him sideways, practically in his lap. There was an old 40th century vampire movie on the screen, but neither one of them was watching it. Rose’s head was thrown back, her lips slightly parted and her eyes closed, Jack’s hand moving underneath her skirt. Before the Doctor had a moment to register what he was seeing, Rose’s knees began to shake and she began to cry out softly.

“Thank you,” Rose whispering, her voice husky. And there was that heat in his blood again, although this time for an entirely different reason.

“Any time, doll,” Harkness, his voice smug and cocky as ever.

“Well, unbutton your trousers and let me repay the favor,” Rose again, with something like lust in her voice.

He couldn’t help it; he let out a strangled little cry, and Jack turned his head sharply, though Rose seemed not to notice, still in the soporific half-haze of her orgasm. The Doctor fled, deep into the TARDIS to his hidden space, and he swam in the frigid waters until every part of him was numb and tingling with the cold.

* * * * *

“I think you and I oughta talk, Doc.”

He could see the Captain’s legs from underneath the TARDIS console, but he had no desire to look at that smug and sure face that had only hours earlier had Rose writhing in ecstasy at just the touch of his fingers. He could only imagine what sorts of things Rose and Jack might get up to at night, to pass the time. Perish the thought!

“I know you can hear me, Doc. And I know you saw us. Me and Rose, I mean. She doesn’t know, but I saw the look in your eye. If you have something to say to me about her, just say it,” Jack said, his voice rough, but no so much that the Doctor didn’t detect the faint tremor of fear in his voice.

The Doctor realized Jack was probably terrified he might kill him, or worse, and that brought a bitter smile to his face. He was turning into a nasty old man, or rather already was most of the way there anyway. He thought about what he might like to say to the Captain, and then began to speak, slowly and carefully. “Rose is young, impressionable. You're older, more worldly. She has a boyfriend, you know.”

“Mickey? Please, if she was interested in him for real, she never would've left him behind to go with you. Doctor, if you want her to be hands off, just tell me. It's your spaceship, I'd respect that. But honestly...Rose is Rose. And if you don't tell me no, well, I can't promise I'll be able to keep my hands to myself, especially not when she's ready and willing. Someone has to relieve her sexual frustration, and it's not as though _you_ are exactly stepping up to the plate on that one.”

The Doctor was grinding his teeth now, clanging his tools around to hide his sighs of frustration. He was glad that Jack couldn't see him right now. He was resisting the urge to pile drive the other man into the TARDIS grating, until that smug, stupid grin was wiped off his face indefinitely. He liked Captain Jack though, at least most of the time. But his loathing, his jealousy, those feelings were too overwhelming. He was selfish. He didn't want to share Rose with anyone.

“Rose doesn't want a daft, funny-looking old man like me. She's a young woman, you're better suited to her...human needs. I just don't want to see her hurt. Or impregnated. That's all,” the Doctor said evenly.

“You think she doesn't want you? Doctor...are you blind? She's over the moon for you, she doesn't care how old you are, or how silly you think you look. She loves you because you're wonderful, and because you've shown her wonderful things, including a side of herself she never knew existed. But you would know all these things, if it were you having pillow talk with her instead of me. Although...you could always join us one night, if you felt so inclined,” the Captain purred coyly.

The Doctor chose to ignore this blatant invitation. “I'm busy, Jack, and I don't think we have anything left to discuss here.”

“Yeah okay Doc, whatever you say,” Jack said, exasperation in his tone.

The Doctor kept tightening screws and twisting nuts that didn't need adjusting for another ten minutes before he finally got out from under the console and headed back to the endless ocean for another frosty swim.

* * * * *

Rose gaped in disbelief at the two pink lines staring back at her accusingly, and blinked. No matter how hard she stared at it though, that second line was undeniably dark and visible. Pregnant. Her heart sank. There was a knock on the door, and she hastily tucked the test back into its box and slid it inside her purse.

“Rose, are you alright in there?” the Doctor's voice, tinged with concern.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she called, trying to steel her voice so that he wouldn't suspect something was amiss. “Just takin' my time. I'm a bit of a germaphobe when it comes to public loos. Don't want to catch space chlamydia from a toilet seat.”

“Rose, you can't catch chlamydia from a toilet seat.”

“Oh, well that's a relief,” she said, ducking out the door.

“You didn't wash your hands.”

“Oh...right,” she said, ducking back into the bathroom. Her heart was pounding so fast, and she was sure he had to be able to tell something was up. He always knew, somehow. He didn't come right out and say that he could read minds, but she got these feelings sometimes when he would look at her, and then strange things would happen...

After she had washed up, her, Jack, and the Doctor all went to grab something to eat. On this planet the local delicacy was something quite similar to a potato, smothered in the fat of the local protein animal, and baked at a high temperature until the skins were crisp and the insides were tender. They served these non-chips in small buckets, tossed with a tangy sauce not unlike a vinaigrette. This, along with large roasted hunks of the same animal made dinner, and they were stuffed full and exhausted from the day by the time they made it back to the TARDIS.

“Oh, I left my purse back by the picnic area!” Rose cursed, right as they were getting ready to dematerialize. The Doctor sighed, and she gave him a dirty look.

“I'll run and get it, my legs are longer,” Jack offered, ducking back out the TARDIS door. Rose and the Doctor were left in an uncomfortable silence.

“So...” he said, clearing his throat. 'You look nice today. Glowing, even. I guess the six suns of Solsonne did you some good last week.”

“Yeah, must have done,” she said, trying to hide how nervous she was. “Dinner was good. I loved those...what were they called? The baked soffa? No surprises there though, they were almost exactly like chips.”

“Baked soffa is better,” he declared.

“You might have a point,” she agreed. They lapsed back into awkward silence, but it was thankfully only another brief moment before the Captain had streaked back in the door, her purse in hand.

“Here you go,” he said meaningfully, handing her the bag. She noticed with dismay her purse, which had been zippered shut, was now open. “Your camera was out on the table too, so I put that in your purse for safekeeping.”

“Thanks,” she said, her mouth going dry. “I'm pretty tired actually, after all that food. Think I'll have a bit of a lie down,” she said, practically fleeing the console room.

Jack and the Doctor both stared after her. The Doctor spoke first. “What's gotten into her?”

Jack swallowed heavily, and shook his head. “No idea. Women are strange and mysterious creatures.”

“Hmm. That they are,” the Doctor quietly agreed.

* * * * *

“So,” Jack's voice came quietly out of the darkness. “Are we going to talk about what I found in your purse today?”

“What's to talk about? There's only one thing to do, if you don't want him to break you in half over his knee,” Rose said with a glibness that made Jack feel like maybe there was something to trying to preserve her innocence.

“Yeah, but are you okay with that?” he asked seriously.

“I kind of have to be, don't I?” Rose said, and there was a strange wistfulness in her voice.

Then Jack realized. “Oh. You wish it were him, don't you?”

Rose was silent, and Jack knew he had his answer.

“He loves you, you know. Even if he doesn't say it. You can see it, in the way he looks at you. And how protective he is of you,” Jack said.

“Yeah, but he doesn't love me like that. When he looks at me sometimes, I can see that he's seeing someone else. Maybe a daughter, or another woman he loved. But there's just something in his eyes...I don't know what he's thinking when he looks at me half of the time,” Rose confessed.

“I know somewhere we can go. He's busy having another one of his cold swims, he won't even notice if we slip out. It's on this planet even, luckily enough. They just give you a pill, you go to sleep for an hour, and when you wake up...it's all over.”

“Yeah, alright. Let's get dressed and go,” she said finally.

He didn't need to see her face to know that she was crying.


End file.
